High Road Communications

Think back to any book that has made an impression on you and ask yourself: what made that particular story so memorable?

More than likely, it was the characters in the book that hooked you.

In the real world, the best media campaigns borrow liberally from this concept.

A media campaign that doesn’t feature an interesting customer story is like having a dinner party without food. Without a compelling customer, you’re missing the meat (or vegetarian equivalent) of the story.

Customers are capable of sharing their personal experiences with a particular product or organization. An interesting customer can hook a journalist, keep an audience attentive and act as a credible third-party advocate of your client.

We already know a journalist’s central role is to tell a story. With a compelling customer, you’re making it easier for media to take interest in your client’s campaign. Interesting customers add colour, personal anecdotes, and most importantly, demonstrate the real value of an initiative or product you want to draw attention to.

Just like your favourite storybook character, an interesting customer will help captivate your audience and better communicate the story you want to tell.

Looking for a helpful overview of social networking tools?

Here is a clear cut visual of how social media is currently playing out, courtesy of PR 2.0’s Brian Solis:

It doesn’t cover all of the social networks that are out there, but it’s an excellent and detailed glimpse of the some of the top social computing websites today.

A complete review can be found on PR 2.0: http://www.briansolis.com/2008/08/introducing-conversation-prism.html

We all know traditional pitches don’t always hit with the regularity they used to and it’s becoming increasingly challenging to routinely convert press releases into press.

But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s been good to see many PR pros shocked out of their comfort zone.

Landing the perfect pitch has always been about focusing on the right media. Today, we’re also hip to the fact that not only does the Internet now drive the news; it holds major sway in setting the agenda. With this in mind, successful PR must shift away from the “one size fits all” media list and towards specific, targeted communications that caters to traditional and non-traditional media alike.

Developing that perfect pitch every time was always destined to be an evolving process.  The new media landscape is making people more vigilant in tweaking and fine-tuning that tasty news angle that is as irresistible as it is timely and relevant.

Indeed, understanding how best to leverage this changing PR landscape is often the difference between a media hit and an editor telling you that your latest pitch was not worth their time.